A Winston-Salem church has partnered with a New York-based nonprofit to purchase and forgive the medical debt of nearly 3,000 households in Wake County.
The city is partnering with the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt to buy up and forgive unpaid medical bills. The trend started in Cook County, Ill., and is spreading to cities across the country.
U.S. hospitals face growing scrutiny over aggressive debt collection tactics. At one community hospital, few patients get financial aid when they can't afford to pay. Many more are taken to court.
Credit rating agencies have removed small unpaid medical bills from consumer credit, and some people are seeing their credit scores improve, a new study finds.
The suits pursued patients and their families, sometimes putting liens on homes. "I know my house will never be mine. It is going to be the hospital's," said Donna Lindabury, 70, who lost her case.
One North Carolina family's six-figure medical bill came from a state hospital. The attorney general, who is running for governor and says he's against high medical costs, tried to collect the debt.